Cordless indicia reader with a multifunction coil for wireless charging and EAS deactivation

ABSTRACT

A cordless indicia reader including a multifunction coil that can be configured to either transmit or receive electromagnetic energy is disclosed. In this way, the multifunction coil facilitates both the wireless charging of a battery and the wireless deactivation of electronic article surveillance (EAS) tags. The multifunction coil, and a plurality of modules to perform these functions, are integrated within the cordless indicia reader&#39;s hand-supportable housing.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims the benefit of Chinese Application forUtility Model No. 201420348637.5 for a Cordless Indicia Reader with aMultifunction Coil for Wireless Charging and EAS Deactivation filed Jun.27, 2014. The present application also claims the benefit of ChineseApplication for Utility Model No. 201420728231.X for a Cordless IndiciaReader with a Multifunction Coil for Wireless Charging and EASDeactivation filed Nov. 28, 2014.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of indicia readers and, morespecifically, to a hand-held, cordless indicia reader with an integratedmultipurpose coil for (i) wireless charging and (ii) electronic articlesurveillance (EAS) tag deactivation.

BACKGROUND

Hand-held, cordless indicia readers are widely used in retail settingsto aid in the checkout process. These hand-held indicia readerscommunicate scanned barcode information wirelessly to a host system,which in turn registers price and updates stock information. Thesehand-held, cordless indicia readers use a rechargeable energy storagecomponent (e.g., battery) as a power source. Typically, the indiciareader is stored in a docking station and physically connected to apower supply in order to replenish the energy of the indicia reader'srechargeable battery. The docking station is equipped with a connectorthat, when mated with the indicia reader, establishes an electricalconnection between the docking station and the indicia reader.

Wireless-charging systems have eliminated the need for this physicalelectrical connection. In these systems, the energy is transferred tothe indicia reader's battery through the mutual inductance between twocoils: a transmitting coil and a receiving coil. The transmitting coil(i.e., primary coil) integrated with a host system (e.g., point-of-salesystem) inductively couples energy to a receiving coil (i.e., secondarycoil) integrated with the indicia reader. The energy is coupled from thereceiving coil to the indicia reader's battery through chargingcircuitry.

Electronic article surveillance (EAS) systems are also widely used inretail settings to prevent the unauthorized removal (e.g., theft) ofprotected items (e.g., goods for sale) from a controlled area (e.g., thestore). In these systems, the controlled area contains the protecteditems. This controlled area has a boundary with a fixed number ofgateways. For a protected item to pass through one of these gateways, itmust also pass through an EAS sensor. Small modules known as EAS tagsare affixed to protected items stored in the controlled area. These EAStags exist in one of two states: activated or deactivated. When anactivated EAS tag passes through the EAS sensor, an alarm is triggered.Deactivated EAS tags, however, may freely pass through the EAS sensor.In a retail setting, items in the store have are affixed with activatedEAS tags. These tags must be deactivated during the check-out process atthe point of sale.

To deactivate an EAS tag, the cashier places the tag in proximity withan active coil that subjects the EAS tag to electromagnetic (EM) energy(e.g., a large EM pulse). This energy is sufficient to change theproperties of the EAS tag in a way that renders it invisible to thegateway's EAS sensor.

A hand-held, cordless indicia-reader with both wireless charging and EASdeactivation functions would provide many advantages. The addedfunctionalities could eliminate the need for a docking station anddeactivation station in the check-out area. This added functionalitycould also reduce a point-of-sale system's cost and operatingcomplexity. A need, therefore, exists for an indicia reader with bothwireless charging and EAS deactivation functionality that is alsocapable of hand-held and cordless operation.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, in one aspect, the present invention embraces a cordlessindicia reader, including a plurality of modules configured for (i)acquiring and decoding indicia, (ii) receiving energy wirelessly tocharge an energy storage component, and (iii) transmitting energywirelessly to deactivate electronic article surveillance (EAS) tags. Aplurality of modules to enable these functions are substantiallyenclosed in a hand-supportable housing. A coil module is included in theplurality of modules. The coil module has one multifunction coil to (i)receive wireless energy to facilitate the charging of the energy storagecomponent and (ii) transmit energy wirelessly to facilitate thedeactivation of EAS tags.

In an exemplary embodiment, the plurality of modules include a controlmodule for generating signals to configure the indicia reader's modes ofoperation. These modes of operation include: (i) an indicia-readingmode, (ii) a wireless-charging mode, and (iii) an EAS-deactivation mode.A battery module, including an energy storage component, for storingenergy and supplying energy, is included to enable the indicia reader'smodes of operation. A switching module, includes one or more switchesand is controlled by the control module to switch energy and electronicsignals between modules. In this way, the switching module helps toenable the cordless indicia reader's different modes of operation. Whenthe indicia reader is configured in the indicia-reading mode, anindicia-reading module is enabled to acquire and decode indicia. Whenthe indicia reader is configured in the wireless-charging mode, acharging module is enabled to generate a charging signal. When theindicia reader is configured in the EAS-deactivation mode, anEAS-deactivation module is enabled to generate an EAS-deactivationsignal.

In another exemplary embodiment, the control module of the cordlessindicia reader configures the indicia-reading mode by signaling theswitching module to electrically interconnect the battery module and theindicia-reading module.

In another exemplary embodiment, the control module of the cordlessindicia reader is triggered to enable the indicia-reading mode when anoperator presses a scan button on the cordless indicia reader's handsupportable housing.

In another exemplary embodiment, the control module of the cordlessindicia reader configures the wireless-charging mode by signaling theswitching module to electrically interconnect the battery module,wireless-charging module, and the coil module. In this mode, the coilmodule's multifunction coil may receive an electromagnetic chargingsignal wirelessly from a host charging coil via magnetic induction. Theelectromagnetic charging signal may have a power of 5 watts or less.

In another exemplary embodiment, the control module of the cordlessindicia reader configures the EAS-deactivation mode by signaling theswitching module to electrically interconnect the battery module,EAS-deactivation module, and coil module. In this mode, theEAS-deactivation module may be triggered to send an EAS-deactivationsignal when an EAS tag and the multifunction coil are in proximity. TheEAS deactivation signal may be a pulse of radio frequency (RF) energywith a frequency between 7.5 megahertz (MHz) and 8.8 MHz (e.g., 7.9 to8.4 MHz) to match the resonant frequency of the EAS tag.

In some exemplary embodiments, the indicia reader's modes are triggeredby events or conditions. For example, the control module may betriggered to enable the indicia reader's EAS-deactivation mode after anindicium is acquired and decoded. The control module may be triggered toenable the indicia reader's wireless-charging mode after anEAS-deactivation signal is transmitted or after an indicia is read. Inother words, when the cordless indicia reader is not engaged in eitherindicia reading or EAS deactivation functions.

In other exemplary embodiments, the coil module's multifunction coil isa planar spiral coil. This coil may have at least 15 turns.Alternatively, the coil may have an inductance of between about 9 and 11micro-Henrys (mH). Further, in some embodiments, the coil may have aresistance of less than 0.5 ohm (Ω). Further, the coil may be integratedin a handle formed into the hand-held cordless indicia reader'shand-supportable housing.

The foregoing illustrative summary, as well as other exemplaryobjectives and/or advantages of the invention, and the manner in whichthe same are accomplished, are further explained within the followingdetailed description and its accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 graphically depicts an exemplary embodiment of the multipurposecoil.

FIG. 2 schematically depicts an exemplary embodiment of the cordlessindicia reader.

FIG. 3 graphically depicts the multipurpose coil integrated into thecordless indicia reader.

FIG. 4 graphically depicts the wireless charging of a cordless indiciareader.

FIG. 5 schematically depicts the deactivation of an EAS tag.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention embraces a multifunction cordless indicia reader.The functions available are: (i) indicia reading, (ii) wirelesscharging, and (iii) electronic article surveillance (EAS) deactivation.The wireless charging and EAS deactivation functions are facilitated bya multifunction coil.

In an exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the multifunction coil 1contains an insulated conductor arranged in planar, concentric turns(i.e., planar spiral coil). The multifunction coil's conductor 2 may bethin (e.g., 0.3 millimeter diameter). The conductor may be made fromcopper or another conducting material and coated with an insulatingfilm. The diameter of the conductor is chosen to handle a sustainedpower level experienced with wireless charging (e.g., 5 watts). The coilis also designed to transmit pulsed energy efficiently for EASdeactivation. An exemplary embodiment of the multifunction coil forwireless charging and EAS deactivation has 15 turns, resulting in a coilinductance of about 9 to 11 micro-Henrys. The resistance of the coil islow and is about 0.2 ohm at 25 degree Celsius.

The coil's physical design facilitates the integration within a handlesection of the hand-held cordless indicia reader's hand-supportablehousing. For this integration, the coil shown in FIG. 1 may have acoil-length 3, coil-width 4, and coil-thickness 5 of approximately48×32×1 millimeters (mm), respectively. As shown in FIG. 2, the cordlessindicia reader 10 has a hand-supportable housing with a handle 11 for anoperator to hold like a gun. A scan button 12 is integrated with thehousing to allow the operator to activate (i.e., trigger)indicia-reading by pressing this button (i.e., pulling the trigger). Themultifunction coil 1 may be positioned inside the hand-supportablehousing at the base of the handle.

The multifunction coil supports wireless charging (i.e., inductivecharging). This form of charging uses an electromagnetic field totransfer energy between two coils through magnetic induction. As shownin FIG. 3, the first of these coils 14 may be integrated into a chargingstation as part of a host system 15 (e.g., a point-of-sale system). Thiscoil is known as the host charging coil 14 and serves as the primarycoil (i.e., transmitting coil) in a coil pair, acting as a kind oftransformer. The second coil of this coil pair is the multifunction coil1 and is integrated with the cordless indicia reader 10. This coilserves as the secondary coil (i.e., receiving coil) in the transformercoil pair and receives energy wirelessly. When the two coils are inproximity (e.g., 0 to 5 millimeters) the coils couple through theirmagnetic fields (i.e., mutual induction) and energy from the primarycoil 14 will be transferred to the secondary coil 1. A charging source16 connected to the host charging coil 14 excites the host charging coil14 with an alternating current at a frequency suitable for wirelesscharging (e.g., 110 to 205 kilohertz [KHz]). The electromagneticcharging signal may comport with a wireless charging standard and, assuch, this application hereby incorporates by reference the WirelessPower Consortium's Qi (WPC-Qi) specifications for wireless charging(i.e., WPC-Qi Wireless Power Specification, version 1.1.2, June 2013) inits entirety. A battery module 17 connected to the multifunction coil 1stores the wirelessly transferred energy in an energy storage component(e.g., battery).

The multifunction coil also supports electronic article surveillance(EAS) tag deactivation. EAS is a scheme for preventing the unauthorizedremoval of an item from a controlled area (e.g., shoplifting). Anactivated EAS tag is affixed to the item in a way that is difficult fora potential thief to detect, tamper with, or remove. A gateway sensorthat can sense the activated EAS tag is positioned in such a way as toscan all traffic into and out of the controlled area. When an active tagis detected, an alarm may sound to alert personnel of the attemptedtheft.

A variety of EAS tags exist, each with their own scanning/sensingscheme. Radio frequency (RF) EAS tags are especially popular. These EAStags may be soft tags integrated within item packaging or integrated inpackage labels. The tags operate based on an inductive-capacitive (LC)resonant (i.e., tank) circuit. The tank circuit may have a resonance inthe range of 7.5 to 8.8 megahertz (MHz), and this resonance may bedetected during the gateway sensor's scan as a narrow-band energy loss.To deactivate the tag, this resonance may be destroyed by subjecting itto a large energy RF pulse at or near the resonant frequency of the EAStag. The energy in this pulse open-circuits a fuse (i.e., blows thefuse) in the LC tank circuit. Alternatively, the capacitor in the LCtank circuit may be damaged as a result of the deactivation pulse and,in this way, serves as a kind of fuse. Whatever the case, the RF pulsedestroys the LC resonance and deactivates the tag. Deactivated tags maypass through the gateway detector triggering no alarms.

The cordless indicia reader with the multipurpose coil may deactivateEAS tags. An EAS-tag deactivation signal may be generated by anEAS-deactivation module in the cordless indicia reader when an activetag is sensed or after some condition is met (e.g., a successful barcodescan). As shown in FIG. 4, the deactivation signal (i.e., RF pulse) 20may be transmitted by the multipurpose coil 1 and received by the EAStag 21. The energy in the pulse is sufficient to deactivate the EAS-tag21. Because the tag may be resonant at the deactivation signal'sfrequency, the range for deactivation can be as much as 110 millimeters.This range may vary, however, depending on the energy of theEAS-deactivation signal.

A schematic of the cordless indicia reader's plurality of modules andtheir interconnections is shown in FIG. 5. A control module 30 isconfigured to send signals to a switching module 31 configured with oneor more electrical switches to electrically interconnect (i.e., enable)the modules and enable a particular mode of operation. The various modesof operation include: (i) an indicia reading mode for reading indicia(e.g., scanning barcodes), (ii) a wireless charging mode for receivingenergy to charge an integrated energy storage device (e.g., battery),and (iii) an EAS-deactivation mode for transmitting energy to deactivatean EAS tag (e.g., soft, RF tags). A battery module 17 contains an energystorage device and may include circuitry for filtering and regulation.The battery module supplies energy to power the other modules to enabletheir function. An indicia-reading module 32 performs all the functionsof indicia reading. This mode of operation is enabled when the scanbutton 12 is pressed.

The multifunction coil 1 can be switched between the charging module 33and the EAS deactivation module 34 depending on the mode of operation.In the wireless charging mode, the switching module is configured toconnect the battery module 17 with the charging module 33, which in turnis connected to the multifunction coil 1. The charging module isconfigured with circuitry to adjust the voltage and current levels of anelectromagnetic charging signal in order to facilitate charging of theenergy storage device in the battery module 17. The wireless-chargingmode may be the default mode of the indicia reader.

In the EAS-deactivation mode, the switching module is configured toelectrically interconnect the battery module 17 and the EAS-deactivationmodule 34. In addition the EAS-deactivation module is connected, via theswitching module, with the multifunction coil 1. This mode of operationmay be triggered to occur when the scanner senses an activated EAS tagor after an indicia is read. In either case, in this mode of operation,the EAS-deactivation module generates an EAS-deactivation signal. Thissignal may contain at least one RF pulse. This RF pulse has thecharacteristics necessary and sufficient for EAS tag deactivation (e.g.,7.5-8.8 MHz). The multifunction coil is used to transmit the pulsewirelessly to deactivate the EAS tag.

To supplement the present disclosure, this application incorporatesentirely by reference the following commonly assigned patents, patentapplication publications, and patent applications:

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In the specification and/or figures, typical embodiments of theinvention have been disclosed. The present invention is not limited tosuch exemplary embodiments. The use of the term “and/or” includes anyand all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. Thefigures are schematic representations and so are not necessarily drawnto scale. Unless otherwise noted, specific terms have been used in ageneric and descriptive sense and not for purposes of limitation.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A cordless indicia reader, comprising: a plurality of modules configured for (i) acquiring and decoding indicia, (ii) receiving energy wirelessly to charge an energy storage component, and (iii) transmitting energy wirelessly to deactivate electronic article surveillance (EAS) tags; and a hand-supportable housing substantially enclosing the plurality of modules; wherein the plurality of modules comprises a coil module, the coil module including one multifunction coil for both (i) wirelessly receiving energy to facilitate the charging of the energy storage component and (ii) wirelessly transmitting energy to facilitate the deactivation of EAS tags.
 2. The cordless indicia reader according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of modules comprise: a control module for generating signals to configure the indicia reader's modes of operation, the modes of operation comprising (i) an indicia-reading mode, (ii) a wireless-charging mode, and (iii) an EAS-deactivation mode; a battery module, comprising an energy storage component, for storing energy and supplying energy to enable the indicia reader's modes of operation; a switching module, comprising one or more switches, controlled by the control module, configured to route energy and electronic signals between modules to facilitate the cordless indicia reader's modes of operation; an indicia-reading module enabled to acquire and decode indicia when the indicia reader is configured in the indicia-reading mode; a charging module enabled to generate a charging signal when the indicia reader is configured in the wireless-charging mode; and an EAS-deactivation module enabled to generate an EAS-deactivation signal when the indicia reader is configured in the EAS-deactivation mode.
 3. The cordless indicia reader according to claim 2, wherein the control module facilitates the indicia-reading mode by signaling the switching module to electrically interconnect the battery module and the indicia-reading module.
 4. The cordless indicia reader according to claim 3, wherein the control module is triggered to facilitate the indicia-reading mode when an operator presses a scan button on the cordless indicia reader's hand supportable housing.
 5. The cordless indicia reader according to claim 2, wherein the control module facilitates the wireless-charging mode by signaling the switching module to electrically interconnect the battery module, wireless-charging module, and the coil module.
 6. The cordless indicia reader configured for wireless-charging mode according to claim 5, wherein the coil module's multifunction coil receives an electromagnetic charging signal wirelessly from a host charging coil via magnetic induction.
 7. The cordless indicia reader configured for wireless-charging mode according to claim 5, wherein the coil module's multifunction coil receives an electromagnetic charging signal having power of 5 watts or less.
 8. The cordless indicia reader according to claim 2, wherein the control module facilitates the EAS-deactivation mode by signaling the switching module to electrically interconnect the battery module, EAS-deactivation module, and coil module.
 9. The cordless indicia reader according to claim 8, wherein the EAS-deactivation module is triggered to send the EAS-deactivation signal upon sensing an EAS tag.
 10. The cordless indicia reader according to claim 8, wherein the EAS deactivation signal comprises a pulse of radio frequency (RF) energy with a frequency of 7.5 megahertz to 8.8 megahertz, the frequency matching a resonant frequency of the EAS tag.
 11. The cordless indicia reader according to claim 2, wherein the control module is triggered to enable the indicia reader's EAS-deactivation mode after an indicium is acquired and decoded.
 12. The cordless indicia reader according to claim 2, wherein the control module is triggered to enable the indicia reader's wireless-charging mode after an EAS-deactivation signal is transmitted.
 13. A cordless indicia reader, comprising: a plurality of modules enclosed by a hand-supportable housing, wherein the plurality of modules comprise: a control module for generating signals to configure a switching module, the switching module having a one or more electrical switches for electrically configuring the plurality of modules to perform a plurality of functions; an indicia-reading module for acquiring and decoding indicia information; a charging module for generating a charging signal for a battery module, the battery module for storing energy and supplying energy to enable the plurality of modules; an electronic article surveillance (EAS) deactivation module for generating an EAS-deactivation signal to deactivate an EAS tag; and a coil module, the coil module including a multifunction coil for (i) wirelessly receiving energy for the charging module and (ii) wirelessly transmitting energy from the EAS-deactivation module to facilitate the deactivation of the EAS tag.
 14. The cordless indicia reader according to claim 13, wherein the plurality of functions comprises (i) indicia reading, (ii) wireless charging, and (iii) EAS-tag deactivation.
 15. The cordless indicia reader according to claim 14, wherein the control module is configured to generate a signal to adjust the switching module to electrically join the plurality of modules in order to enable indicia reading when an operator presses a scan button on the hand-supportable housing.
 16. The cordless indicia reader according to claim 14, wherein the control module is configured to generate a signal to adjust the switching module to electrically join the plurality of modules in order to enable the wireless charging of the battery module when cordless indicia reader is not engaged in indicia reading or EAS deactivation functions.
 17. The cordless indicia reader according to claim 14, wherein the control module is configured to generate a signal to adjust the switching module to electrically join the plurality of modules in order to enable EAS-tag deactivation after performing the indicia reading function.
 18. The cordless indicia reader according to claim 14, wherein the EAS deactivation module has circuitry to generate a tag signal when an active EAS tag is in proximity to the multifunction coil, the tag signal triggering the EAS-deactivation module to generate the EAS-deactivation signal.
 19. The cordless indicia reader according to claim 13, wherein the multifunction coil is a planar spiral coil.
 20. The cordless indicia reader according to claim 19, wherein the planar spiral coil has at least 15 turns. 